IRVINE, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis suffered its first NCAA Division II loss on Monday against Concordia University Irvine who claimed the 5-2 victory at the CUI Tennis Courts.
 
The Golden Eagles (9-4) opened the match with a victory as Sophie Rachor and Bryn Johnson claimed No. 1 doubles 6-2, but the Penguins (8-3) responded behind Sofia Acuña and Deepalakshmi Vanaraja taking the 6-3 win in No. 3 doubles. Jessica Bear and Alicia Da Re fended off a tight match with Logan Koitka and Astrid Craig to give CUI the 6-4 win on the second court and the 1-0 lead in the team score.
 
No. 18 Audrey Rafols helped right the ship as she claimed the first victory of singles play winning 6-3, 6-2 over No. 48 Rachor on the top court. Da Re followed with a. 6-3, 6-3 victory in No. 4 singles to lift the Golden Eagles back into the team lead. No. 22 Maria Gavrilov bounced back from a 6-0 loss in the first set to win set two 6-4 for the Penguins, but Bear was able to regain her momentum from the first set to win 6-1 in the tiebreaking set to put Concordia a singles match from the victory.
 
Much like No. 3 singles, Gina Dudley shook off a 6-0 loss in the first set to win 6-4 in the second to force a tiebreaking third set. Johnson rebounded from the loss of momentum to win 6-2 in the third set and clinch the team victory for the Eagles. Cheyenne Houkes added a 6-3, 6-2 victory for the Golden Eagles, while Vanaraja won 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 in No. 5 singles for Dominican's final point of the match.
 
The Penguins will conclude its road trip Wednesday against Cal State LA at noon PDT at Cal State LA Tennis Complex.